13 listen-blowing facts about Florida's economy

surfer on clearwater beach in tampa florida

Flickr/Visit St. Pete/Clearwater
  • Florida has one of the biggest economies in the Usa.
  • Two of its most famous industries include tourism and agronomics, which contribute to the state'due south $1 trillion GDP.
  • Hither are xiii surprising facts about Florida's economy.
  • Visit MarketsInsider.com for more than stories.

Florida is one of the U.s.a.' economic powerhouses.

It's the third biggest country in the state past population, and has the quaternary biggest economic system. In fact, its GDP is larger than all but 16 countries.

Florida's economy is extremely diverse, with tourism and agriculture amid its top industries.

Today, climatic change is threatening the country's economy, as rising seas and increasing natural disasters are costing the state millions. But Florida is investing in new technology that information technology hopes will proceed the state thriving for years to come up.

Hither are 13 surprising facts about Florida'southward economy.

If Florida were a country, information technology would rank 17th in GDP

Shutterstock / Sean Pavone

Florida's gross domestic product reached $1 trillion in 2018. If Florida were an contained nation, it would take the 17 thursday- largest GDP in the earth, ranking but backside Republic of indonesia and in a higher place Turkey, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Argentina.

Disney World employs more people at a single location than any other visitor in the US

Walt Disney World/Facebook

Disney World'southward Magic Kingdom calls itself the "Happiest Place on Earth," and the theme park is  as well ane of the busiest.

The greater Walt Disney World Resort has 70,000 employees . Co-ordinate to Disney, that'due south the largest number of people employed by i visitor in a unmarried location anywhere in the United states of america.

Disney World needs that huge staff to entertain and serve the huge numbers of visitors that cascade through its gates each twelvemonth. In 2017, 20.45 meg people explored the Magic Kingdom. That'due south about as many people every bit live in Florida ( twenty.98 million ), the 3rd virtually populous US country.

At that place are actually scammers in Florida who try to sell people swampland

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"If you believe that, I've got some swampland in Florida to sell yous."

People utilise that phrase to suggest the person they're talking to is gullible, and information technology'southward based on the real experience of unfortunate purchasers in Florida who institute themselves strapped with land that was too swampy to build on.

According to Florida's attorney general, country scams are not just a thing of the past. If y'all're buying real estate in Florida, make sure you inspect the property in person showtime to make sure you lot're getting what you await.

The Everglades generate more than $100 meg for the Florida economy

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But swampland does have value in Florida — if it'southward left alone.

The Everglades, which are actually wetlands and not technically a swamp, are a major tourist destination, simply they are fragile. As Florida development boomed in the last century, more than than half the original iv one thousand thousand acres of the Everglades was drained and the water flow was reduced by more than two thirds. Data compiled by the Clean H2o Fund show that $xi.5 billion spent to restore this majestic wetland volition upshot in a $46.5 billion boost to the Florida economy, including real estate development and the benefits of cleaner water and better habitat.

The National Park Service, which administers Everglades National Park , estimates that the Glades, every bit they are known in Florida, generated $104.five million in economic benefits in 2014.

Home prices and rents keep rise in Miami, even though the urban center could be underwater in lxxx years.

Jeffrey Greenberg/Getty Images

The side by side best matter to buying swampland is a habitation that might exist literally underwater .

Miami may be the Us city most in danger of beingness swallowed past ascension seas due to climate modify. One 2018 study said 12,000 Miami Beach homes are in danger of chronic flooding within the next 30 years.

Withal Trulia reports that both rents and habitation prices go on to ascent there. Developers are nonetheless edifice mansions by the beach and sales to foreign existent-estate investors are booming.

Hey, want to buy some beachfront property in Miami? Rowboat included.

The urban center of Miami Beach will spend $500 million on water pumps to stave off rise waters

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The optimism in the Miami surface area existent-estate market may exist due, at least in part, to efforts like Miami Beach's $500 million plan to combat ascension oceans. The program includes a pumping arrangement to drain streets decumbent to sunny-day floods, and elevating city streets . The question is whether it will exist enough. The Miami Herald reported that, past 2070, sunny-day flooding could become everyday flooding in this coastal community.

Florida had $68.vi billion in insured catastrophic losses between 1986 and 2015

A domicile stands damaged from hurricane Michael as members of a South Florida urban search and rescue squad wait for survivors in Mexico Beach, Fla., Friday, Oct. 12, 2018.
David Goldman/AP

Miami isn't the just part of Florida that has to contend with the subversive forces of nature. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , Florida has the most losses because of catastrophic events of any state in the United states. In the 30 years between 1986 and 2015, insured losses solitary amounted to $68.six billion.

Florida is in the path of hurricanes with increasingly damaging winds , like 2017's Hurricane Irma , a Category 5 tempest with 185 mph winds.

Florida's acme agricultural export is meat, non citrus

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Florida has been famous for its orangish crop and orangish juice since Anita Bryant offset plugged it in the 1970s. The land still produces more 70% of the citrus in the United states of america.

So y'all might be surprised to discover out that Florida is abode to ix out of the top 25 beef producers in the U.s.. While the orange crop is the land's biggest agronomical output, its No. ane international agronomical export is really meat .

Nineteen percent of Floridians are over 65 years one-time — and there's one county where more than half the population is over 65

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The Sunshine State has long been a magnet for retirees. Slightly more than nineteen% of Florida's population is over 65, co-ordinate to Pew Enquiry, compared to 15% of the US population as a whole.

Meanwhile, Sumter Canton, outside Orlando, is the only canton in the United states where the bulk of its residents are over 65, with nigh 53% of its population having reached retirement historic period, co-ordinate to Pew. The adjacent highest county is Charlotte County, besides in Florida, at most 38%.

Two thirds of the land in Florida is used for farming

Shutterstock/Tom Fawls

When you think of Florida, y'all might recall of Disney World, Cardinal West, and a Florida man who brought his alligator on a beer run . But most of Florida is none of these things. Two thirds of Florida is farmland, according to a 2018 report from the University of Florida.

Florida's meridian export is civilian aircraft

Shutterstock/Marcio Jose Bastos Silva

Florida is a major agricultural state, just farm products aren't fifty-fifty amid its 10 about common foreign exports. Florida's No. 1 foreign consign is airplanes and aircraft parts , according to census data.

Florida's top industry, tourism, added $111.7 billion to the country's economy in 2016

Flickr/Visit St. Pete/Clearwater

Tourists flock to Florida's 663 miles of beaches and warm climate. Tourism, Florida's biggest manufacture, contributed $111.7 billion to the country'south economy in 2016. While much of that money went to hotels and recreation, other sectors of the Florida economic system become a big heave from out-of-towners. Visitors spent about $sixteen billion on retail purchases as well.

The Sunshine State gets only 0.1% of its free energy from solar power — only that may exist irresolute

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Florida is known every bit the Sunshine State, but until recently, all that sun didn't translate into solar free energy.

Scientific American reported that while Florida has the eighth-highest potential for solar-energy generation in the US , it creates less than Vermont, which gets 2.4% of its free energy from solar.

Merely Florida may exist in shop for a solar-energy smash, the article noted. Solar employment rose 21% in Florida last year, according to the Orlando Sentinel, with residential solar installation bookkeeping for 63% of those jobs.

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